The Experiment
by I love creepy things
Summary: A six year old girl named Chika Kotone escapes the Sound village after being painfully experimented on by Orochimaru's henchmen. Just what kind of experiments were done on her and what happens when she tries to steal food from Itachi and Kisame? No OC parings
1. Chapter 1

Moved from my AidoRockz account; AidoRockz is a strictly Vampire Knight account only.

I know I have so many stories to work on. I am editing most so those don't take long so at least a chapter of one story should be posted at least once a day.

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A small, struggling, girl was laid across a cold metal table. Both of her wrists and ankles were strapped down to stop her vicious struggling and keep her still. Everyone in the room could obviously tell that the young child was terrified of what was happening. However, not one person in the room gave a single care in the world. All this group of people cared about was either getting paid or molding this child into a perfect weapon. At least, that was what they were told from their boss.

"Please… please stop, you're hurting me." The girl begged with tears running down her face. The people in the room, three men and one woman, ignored the child's begging and smiled down at her cruelly.

"Silence, Chika. You should be a good little girl, like all the others before you. Chika, you should be happy to be able to serve your village this way. Not many children your age get the honer of being picked." The head _doctor_ said with a twisted grin as he looked down at the child. Without giving her a chance to reply, the man stuck a needle point into her, allowing the clear liquid go into her body.

Chika screamed as a hot pain ran through her vains. The pure burning pain caused her body to jerk upwards in a frantic struggle to escape. Two of the other men had to pin the young child to the table to keep her still as the _doctor _injected more of that liquid into her body. Chika's loud screams could soon be heard throughout the whole base, which soon turned into sobs. Yet the people inside the room simply ignored the young girl and laughed cruelly in her misery.

~~~.

~~~.

Chika Kotone jerked awake and looked around rapidly. Only once the girl noticed that she was still inside the cave she fell asleep in did she calm down. Sighing in relief, the young, six year old child snuggled back against the wolf she had been using as her pillow. The wolf, awakened by the human, looked at her in curiosity.

"I just had a bad dream, Michiko. I'm fine now." Chika whispered with a sad smile. The wolf nodded it's head before lowering it and going back to sleep.

A frown came onto Chika's face as she glanced towards the cave opening. _They_ will be coming for her and she knew it. Chika had only been able to escape that place because all the experiments done on her. The results of the experiments were powers which aided in the escape. Not only did she escape her prison, though. No, Chika escaped her village; there was no one she could trust there who wouldn't want to turn her in. The child knew that _they'd _be angry that she ran away and would come looking at her. _He'd _be even madder than all the others; Chika just knew it. So, with the fear of being found, the six year old child shifted into the body of a wolf puppy, allowing her clothes to slip off as she did. It was going to be a long night and the child hoped for a dreamless night for the rest of the time she slept.

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OK, this is not a Mary-Sue story but, yes, Chika will have a number of powers. I have a reason behind that so please just give the story a chance


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the three alerts ^^

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Two men in black cloaks with red clouds stood by a riverbank. Once of the men, a raven haired man known by the name Itachi Uchiha, watched as his partner, a blue skinned man that resembled a shark named Kisame Hoshigaki, collect fish. Kisame was using his water sharks to throw the fish they caught into a basket near the edge of the river.

"Kisame, twenty fish will be enough. We need no more than two a piece at most." Itachi calmly said. Kisame, undoing his jutsu so his sharks would return to normal, turned around to grin and nod at the younger man in agreement.

"You know, it's starting to get a bit annoying to eat fish everyday. I'm not complaining, but it would be nice to eat stuff outside fruit, vegetables and fish once in a while." Kisame commented as he picked up the basket of fish. Itachi looked as if he was going to ignore his partner as he turned his back on the water user, until he spoke up.

"There aren't many places we can go where people wont know who we are. Even if we leave our cloaks behind someone would surely recognize our faces. Knowledge of us seems to have gotten worse since our visit to Konohagakure two years ago." The Uchiha reminded the blue ninja. Kisame chuckled darkly and showed off his oddly sharp, shark like teeth, as he looked at the younger man.

"Ah, but that's what makes it fun. It gives me a reason to kill if someone wants to start a fight." The mist ninja laughed cruelly. As he laughed Itachi noticed that one of the still alive fish flopped out of the basket.

"Kisame, one fell." The fire user pointed out calmly. To this the shark like ninja grunted.

"Can't you pick it up? My hands are full." He asked, even though he was more than capable to bend down and pick up the live fish. Itachi didn't bother to point out that fact as he bend down to pick up the fish before it could make it back into the water.

However, the man never even got a chance to stroke the fish with his finger tips. The moment Itachi bent to pick up the fish a strange, small cloud of wind surrounded it. The wind proved to be surprisingly strong as it lifted the fish from the ground and carried it to the other side of the riverbed.

"What the hell is this?" Kisame asked as he noticed the fish floating across the river, Itachi thinking the same thing minus the swear. Both ninjas got their answer as the fish soon landed in the hands of a young girl.

"Huh? What's a little girl doing here?" Kisame asked but never gave Itachi a chance to answer. "Hey, little girl! It's not nice to steal from others, give the fish back." He called out with a wide, mean grin on his face. Kisame had no shame in who he killed and, if this girl wouldn't listen, there would be one less kid running around in the forest.

Chika Kotone was hungry, very hungry. So, when she spied two men fishing, she couldn't help but stay and watch them. With some luck one fish would attempt to escape and the young child could get something good to eat. Chika could remember her mother once telling her that stealing from strangers was a bad idea but, when struggling to survive, what else could she do? With all the experiments done to her, growing food wasn't one of them.

To her luck, one of the fish flopped out of the basket like she had hoped. Using her power over wind, one of the powers she developed in the experiments, she made it pick up the fish before the raven haired man could. Chika ignored the fact that both men watched as she controlled the wind to bring her the fish, allowing it to drop in her hands. When the child heard the scary blue man yell at her, she turned around and ran back the way she had come.

"Heh, well, if you want to do it the hard way, so be it." Kisame said darkly, dropping the fish as he pulled out a dagger and threw it her way. If it wasn't for the fact that a river divided the two Akatsuki members and the child, the mist ninja would have used Samehada.

With a small, frightened scream, the young child jumped behind a tree to dodge the dagger and kept on running. Kisame, narrowing his eyes in both annoyance and glee, ran after the kid. He didn't care how old the kid was or the reason to why she stole form him. No one messed with him and got away with it alive. After all he was more than willing to cut off Naruto's arm and legs two years. The boy was only twelve so why not go one step farther?

"Kisame, stop!" Itachi called out and his eyes widened slightly when the mist ninja ignored him. Never before had the older man ignored him; the mist ninja always listened to Itachi when he was told something so why did he now ignore him for a simple fish?

Finding no other choice, Itachi took after Kisame in a run. He had to get to his partner before the shark like man could harm the little girl. Not because he was still secretly good but because he had seen something with his Sharingan he thought Kisame should know about. There was something really odd about the child's chakra. In fact, Itachi couldn't see any chakra vains in her body at all. What the Uchiha saw was a milk white glow coming from her bloodstream and muscles. Itachi could sense the power as if it was chakra but, whatever it was, it was powerful.

Chika continued to run, using the power forced onto her to make her run faster than any normal child her age. She could hear the blue skin man following behind and it frightened her. She knew stealing could be very dangerous but this was the last thing the girl thought would happen for stealing a fish. Now the man was chasing her down and trying to kill her.

The six year old girl didn't mean to make the man angry but she was hungry and needed the food. In the last five days of living with the wolves, Chika went without food most of the time. The young child lived with six wolves, all of which shared any food that was brought into the cave. When the girl got food to herself, it was normally a small rabbit, bird and once even a rat. With her fire powers, Chika was able to cook the animals but it still wasn't a lot of food for someone like her. That was the whole reason she stole the fish in the first place.

Feeling something sharp zoom by her face, Chika gasped and nearly dropped the fish. Quickly running past a tree, the girl saw that a dagger was sticking in it. Realizing what happened, the Chika touched her face with one hand, while the other gripped the fish, when she felt something wet dripping down it. Without even slowing a little, the young child pulled her hand away to see blood on it.

"Please stop it! Leave me alone!" She screamed at the man that continued to run after her. She had no idea if the more normal looking man was following her since she couldn't hear or sense him nor did she have the bravery to look back.

"Come on, little girl, surrender the fish and I might let you live." The man called back mockingly. Whimpering, the girl knew no matter what she did now, he was going to kill her.

So, keeping her eyes on the scene in front of her, Chika threw her bloody hand that wasn't holding the fish behind her. Without much warning, a wave of fire suddenly rushed towards the man. The child could feel the heat lick her hand but it did not burn as she continued to run. She was trying to rush back to the cave since, she believed it was the one place she's be safe; even if the man followed, the wolves would protect her.

As the girl's fire rush towards Kisame, the mist ninja swore to himself before creating some hand seals. In seconds he summoned a wall of water that evaporated the fire. Although, at the same time, caused a screen of steam. Not being able to help himself, Kisame lowered his hands and chuckled darkly, showing off his sharp teeth again.

"For someone so young to send that kind of fire wave at me and as well as to have such speed..." he trailed off to laugh again. "She's powerful. This might be more fun than I thought." He said darkly before taking off after the girl again.

Even if he wouldn't show it on the outside, Itachi was starting to get really concerned and annoyed. All of this was happening simply because of one fish. Now his partner's love of fighting had gotten the best of him and Kisame had stopped listening to him to try to kill a little girl. Itachi knew most of the Akatsuki members either fought or killed for fun, and some did both, but a reason like this was quite immature and stupid in his book.

As he started to catch up to his partner and the little girl, Itachi was able to witness the fire attack she used on Kisame. That greatly impressed him. It wasn't very often that Itachi came across a ninja outside the Uchiha clan that could use fire jutsus. However this wasn't a ninja but a young child, so that was even more impressive. Yet, what _interested _the Uchiha was the fact that, with his Sharingan, he saw the milk white glow collect in her hand and grow more of a darker color. Itachi then knew the power could not be chakra since he knew, to activate element jutsus, a person had to make hand sings; this girl had made none. That made him remember the wind that helped the girl steal the fish in the first place.

_'Quite interesting. She has good control over wind and fire as well as good speed at such a young age. She never made hand seals for the fire attack ether. I wonder; just who is this girl?' _Itachi thought to himself as he continued to chase down Kisame. It looked like his partner was impressed too but, knowing him, Kisame would still try to harm the child.

"There is nowhere you can hide, girl! It's time to become a good little girl and accept your fate." The mist ninja called out and laughed as he began to catch up to the young thief. He saw her take sharp right turn which only made him snickered as he continued to follow.

_'I got to get back to the cave! I got to get to Keoko and Michiko!' _Chika thought of the two wolves that had originally brought her to the cave and taken her in. She knew that they'd protect her from the mean man chasing her.

Feeling herself starting to run out of energy, the child began to gasp for air. Her throat was becoming dryer and the more she ran, the harder it was to breath. So, knowing that she _needed _to make it back to the cave before she got too tired, Chika used her wind power to push against her back, helping her run even faster than her sore legs would allow her. Thankfully, the extra push was all she needed to reach the cave. Just to feel safe, though, Chika ran to the far end and put dropped the now dead fish on the ground. Yet, just because she was inside the cave, that did not stop the man from following.

Kisame came to a full stop at the entrance of the cave and glanced around, snickering evilly. The young girl had just trapped herself with him; there was no escape for her now. Continuing to laugh evilly, the mist ninja walked in and spotted the girl huddled in a corner of the cave.

"There is no way out for you now, kid. If you give up now, I just might go easy on you." he laughed cruelly and grinned sharply as he got closer and closer to the child. The girl could only whimpered before two, snarling wolves jumped protectively in front of her.

"Keoko, Michiko!" Chika gasped out their names, relieved that they were there to protect her. The tall, blue man stopped short to blink at the two wolves.

"Hmm, so you have some pets, do you? Oh well, that's not much of a problem." he smiled evilly and reached for a handle that was showing behind his left shoulder.

Itachi reached the cave the exact moment he heard a child's scream. He quickly entered to see two dead and bloody wolves laying on the cave floor. Kisame was holding Samehada in his hand so it was easy to tell what had happened. The fire ninja noticed that the mist ninja was staring ahead with surprise on his face. So, glancing over to see what was wrong, Itachi soon realized why Kisame looked the way he did.

The young child was screaming loudly, her head tilted upwards and a wild, white light coated around her body. The white glow was blowing wildly as if caught in a wind but the two Akatsuki members knew that wasn't wind. It was the power of her chakra; if it was chakra. Itachi still had doubts about that.

Chika had been terrified when she witnessed the cloaked man kill the two wolves that had given her a new home. While terrified she could only be glad that the four other wolves were still out hunting. If they were here it would have been safe to say, this man would have killed them as easily as he had killed Keoko and Michiko. Still, seeing two creatures that showed her love being killed, Chika lost control over her power and now it _danced _around her body. She screamed loudly in pained angry.

"Little girl." A new voice called out, seemingly gentler than the blue, shark like man that killed the wolves. Chika lowered her head to see the raven haired man from the river.

_'So he did follow us after all.' _She thought and glared into his eyes to tell him she was not afraid of him. Normally she would have been terrified out of her wits but right now she was just too mad to feel any fear.

However. the young child's glare soon softened and her eyes grew heavy. Itachi continued to stare into her eyes with his Sharingan, causing the girl to fall into a deep sleep. The young child soon fell on the cave ground, next to the dead bodies of the wolves. Itachi's Sharingan soon disappeared and was replaced by his normal eyes as he looked at his partner.

"Pick her up and lets bring her to the others. I'll get the fish." Itachi ordered and turned around, leaving the cave before Kisame could ask any questions.

Tsking, the mist ninja put his sword away and did as he was told. He picked the young child up and placed ther over his right shoulder. Without taking a second glance behind him, and forgetting about the stolen fish, Kisame left the cave to join his partner.

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I want to mention I have not thought of a name for Chika's power but I can explain it is very similar to Chakra


	3. Chapter 3

**I realizes I didn't say what the girl looks like so it is mentioned in this one. I just want to say I struggle with personalities and vocabulary so there might be a repeat of words**

**I also want to note that I am trying really hard to stay in character so I might even have to change this into a M rated story. However I also want to try some humor so please just bare with me. Now, please enjoy chapter 3 and review**

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"Who is she?" a blue haired woman asked. Her tone was dull but held a hint of curiosity in it.

"We don't know." a young man's with raven hair, which was put in a ponytail, replied in a dull, close to no emotion, tone. A man with orange hair and piercings looked the at the raven haired man and his partner.

"Why did you bring her here?" he demanded with narrowed eyes. He was more curious than he was angry but still not at all happy about it.

"She tried stealing from us. When I chased her down she displayed some kind of weird power after I killed some wolves. Itachi put her in a genjutsu and ordered me to bring her back." The blue man besides the raven haired man replied raspy voice. Itachi, the same man standing next to the blue man, hned in agreement.

"This girl seems to have the ability to control both wind and fire. However, not only is she unusually young to control jutsu's at this age, but, not once, did she made a hand sign. I also sense something odd about her chakra." The man named Itachi replied in a expressionless tone. The orange haired man from before didn't reply as he stared down at the young child thoughtfully.

Upon returning to the base, Itachi and Kisame were met by Pein, the Akatsuki leader. Because the two had returned later than he had expected, Pein thought the two had encountered an enemy attack. So imagine the man's surprise when he spotted a young child basically thrown over Kisame's shoulder. When questioned about it, Itachi replied they would explain in a minute before disappearing towards the kitchen to put the fish away. Kisame continued to the base living room and literally allowed her to dropped onto the couch.

Pein could understand what Itachi meant about the child's chakra. He could sense it for himself and he was sure Konan could to. There was something off about it. The Akatsuki leader could sense her power as if it was chakra but it was unusually powerful. Yet, if what Itachi said was true, and the girl didn't use any hand signs to trigger her jutsus, could it really be chakra? This was strange and Pein wasn't sure what to do. Should he question this girl once she wakes up? Maybe train her to control her powers so she'd benefit to the Akatsuki? Or just allow her to be killed?

"Itachi, when should she wake up?" Pein questioned coolly. Itachi stared down at the girl in an uncaring way as he answered.

"She should wake up in about an hour." Pein nodded at this before staring down at the young child.

The small child looked as if she were sleeping peacefully rather than knocked out by a gejutsu. Her shoulder long, red hair framed her innocent face. Her eye color went unknown for the moment and her clothing looked tattered, ripped and dirty. Through the dirty, destroyed, clothing, the four Akatsuki members could see how thin the child was. Either this girl was living in the forest for a while or she had recently escaped abusive parents.

"Good, when she wakes up we will question her." Pein said coldly. Itachi and Kisame nodded but Konan looked slightly concerned.

There was something familiar with this young girl. Konan knew she had never seen the child before but she did remind her of someone. It didn't take her very long to figure out who, either. This child, who couldn't have been older than five or six, reminded Konan of Nagato when they were just children. When she and Yahiko first found Nagato he looked almost exactly like this girl did. Not to mention, she shared similar features to Nagato, the real Nagato. Was this child somehow related to the Uzumaki clan like him? **(1) **

"Hey, we're back, un." A young male voice called out. Pulling their attention towards the living room entrance, the four Akatsuki members watched as two others joined walked in with Akatsuki robes and hats.

One of them was a young, blond haired man with hair covering his one eye. Upon taking off his straw hat, it was shown that his hair was tied into a high pony tail. A cocky smile played on his young face and an blue slanted, eye, shinned almost gleefully. At first glance, people would guess he was in his late teens. The man was indeed only eighteen years old and, by far, the recently youngest member of the Akatsuki.

The guy next to the blond teen was strange. He was rather short and it looked like he was hunched over. Because the Akatsuki cloak went down to the floor, no one could see his feet but, for all anyone knew, he could be crawling. Or maybe he was just very fat and short. Underneath the Akatsuki hat the man had his hair into dreadlocks like braids. A bandana covered his mouth and the eyes stayed hidden. When the man walked, it sounded like he was dragging something behind him.

"Welcome back, Deidara and Sasori. How was the mission?" Pein ordered rather than asked. The blond boy named Deidara shrugged carelessly and never lost his smirk as the shorter man, Sasori, only stared ahead with cold looking eyes.

"The mission was a success. We got the scroll with little interference." He said in a dark, almost raspy, voice. Deidara was the one to hand over the scroll as he noticed the child sleeping on the couch.

"Why is there a kid in here?" The former Iwagakure shinobi questioned curiously. He already knew she wasn't a new recruit so did that make her a hostage or perhaps Konan and Pein's secret love child?

"Itachi and Kisame found her out in the woods. She tried stealing one of the fish they were gathering and expressed some interesting powers. Itachi thought it would be smart to bring her back for questioning." Pein answered. Deidara hummed thoughtfully before looking away from the child and left the room.

So she wasn't a new recruit or a hostage. Well, the hostage part depended if anyone was out looking for the girl. Not that Deidara actually cared, but he pitied the child for having to be here. He himself was only fifteen when he was forced into the Akatsuki. Forced and tricked all thanks to Itachi Uchiha, who Deidara hated with a burning passion. While the bomber had gotten used to life in the Akatsuki, he didn't have near as much freedom when he travelled counties, offering his services as a bomber. While Deidara had little regard on who his bombs ended up killing, he wouldn't stoop to killing a child under the age of twelve. At least not on purpose anyways.

"Are we just going to leave her on the couch, Leader-Sama?" Kisame asked, staring down at the unconscious child as Sasori left soon after Deidara did. Pein looked down at the child for a moment and only very highly trained ninja could detect a thoughtful look on the orange haired man's stone cold face.

"I suppose she could be moved to the medic room. Konan, take the girl with you and check to see if she has anything wrong with her. If you find anything serious, get Kakuzu to help you." The Akatsuki ordered. Only nodding, Konan walked over to the child and bent down to pick her up as said ninja walked into the living room with a half dressed, silver haired man following him.

"What am I to help with?" He asked gruffly. The man beside him looked annoyed by something but, as soon as he saw the child in Konan's arms, spoke before Pein could.

Kakuzu was a tall, tanned man. He wore a mask over his face that almost looked contented to a hat like helmet, or hood, on his head. Said helmet had his former village logo on it, scratched out. He, like the man following him, was not wearing their Akatsuki cloaks. So, instead the Takigakure wore a simple greyish blue vest, loose enough so that the masks on his back wouldn't leave indents in the fabric. As for pants, Kakuzu wore simple blue, ninja pants and sandles. Kakuzu was also the tallest Akatsuki member after Kisame.

The man beside him was Kakuzu's foul mouthed partner. His medium length hair was slicked back and his purplish pink eyes shined with anger. Unlike Kakuzu, the man didn't wear any kind of shirt at all but wore blue ninja pants like the masked man. Strapped to his naked back rested a Triple-Bladed Scythe, which the man looked really close to grabbing the handle of. Around his neck rested the forehead protected of his former village and a Jashinist pendent..

"What the fuck is a child doing here?" He demanded before he looked between Konan and Pein confusingly. "Did the two of you have a fucking love child behind our fucking backs or something?" he asked innocently enough though with swears. This got a glare from Pein, a none visible twitch from Konan as she left, and a smack in the head from Kakuzu; or more like a punch to the head.

"Shut up, Hidan, you idiot. The kid looks nothing like them." He demanded angrily in his gruff voice. Hidan rubbed the back of his silver haired head as he glared at the masked man.

"Oi, fuck you, Kakuzu!" he shouted. Kakuzu decided to was best to ignore his partner before looking over to Pein.

"You were saying, sir?" he asked as respectful as he could from the resent mood he was in. Pein pulled his glaring eyes from Hidan to look at Kakuzu.

"I have ordered Konan to examine the child for any injuries. If it is required, you will help Konan heal her. Once she wakes up we will begin questioning. As of right now, you are dismissed." Pein said and disappeared in a puff of smoke before anything else could be said. Kakuzu seemed to stare at nothing for a moment, before he turned his gaze towards Itachi and Kisame, who had been in the room for the entire time.

"Do I even want to know what's going on?" He questioned while Hidan, still swearing, marched off sulking. Kisame gave his trademark grin while Itachi remained emotionless.

"Maybe. You'll have to wait and see for yourself." He said with a raspy chuckle. Kakuzu grunted and blinked his odd, Christmas like eyes.

"Whatever. I'll be counting my money. Bother me and die." He warned before leaving the two partners to themselves. Kisame chuckled as he looked over to Itachi.

"Well, things just got interesting, wouldn't you say, Itachi?" He asked with another grin.

"Hn." he grunted before walking away without another sound, let alone word. Letting out a sigh, Kisame crossed his blue arms against his chest and looked up at the ceiling.

"I wonder how this child is going to impact everyone. Kid's got spunk, that's for sure. Not even adults are brave enough to steal form us and those that do die." He chuckled to himself. Suddenly his eyes widen as a realization hits him.

"Fuck! All that trouble and we forget about the damned fish."

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**(1) **Yeah, Pein/Nagato is related to the Uzumaki clan for those that did not know

I had to edit some of this when I described the OCs looks. her hair is red, not blue -which I accident typed- since I keep imagining red for some reason


	4. Chapter 4

Oh god :O was chapter three really that good? Thank you so much for all the feedback XD I am so happy that you liked it so much. So here is chapter four

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Chika whimpered as she slowly felt herself come back to reality. The first thing the child noticed were the voices whispering all around her. The second thing she noticed was the hard, yet somewhat comfortable, wooden table she was laying on. Confusion and fear suddenly filled Chika's body as her memories returned to her. She tried stealing a fish from two men and, in result, the two wolves that looked after her for five days were killed. The last thing Chika could remember was red eyes staring into her own green ones.

"Besides a few old wounds, and the cut on her cheek Kisame admitted to causing, nothing seems to be wrong with her physically. However, I did find out she is suffering from minor hunger pains. She seems to be getting enough food to keep herself from starving but not enough to keep herself satisfied." The voice of a close by woman announced. With her eyes still closed, Chika heard a thoughtful hum came from a male somewhere in the room.

'Where am I? I can't be back _there_, can I? I don't recognize that woman's voice but she could be new.' The young child thought as she purposely kept her eyes closed. The little girl feared that, if she opened her eyes, she'd find herself back in one of the experiment rooms.

"Girl, we know you are faking. Open your eyes." a male's voice ordered. Like the female's voice, Chika didn't recognize it but obeyed frightfully.

Upon opening her eyes, the child saw she was in a room she had never seen before. The walls looked like they were made of stone and were painted white. There were a few beds scattered around one side of the room, with a sink and medical supplies on the other side. The floor was carpeted a black color, hiding most blood and puke stains that were impossible to get out. Standing above the girl was a blue haired woman and a ginger haired man with piercings. Both of them were wearing cloaks similar to the two men from the river.

"W... Where am I?" Chika whimpered frighteningly. The two adults side glanced each other before starting down at the child.

"Where you are is not important. What I want to know is why you tried to steal food from my men." The man ordered coolly, his odd, ring baring down at the child in a demanding way. The six year old girl felt her self tense and shake fear.

Whoever this man was, he scared her. Chika had never seen him before, nor had she ever seen the uniform he wore. While the child convinced herself that no one was worse than the people that experimented on her, she was smart enough to know that there were more dangerous people around and this man was one of them. Chika had no idea what these adults would do to her. Kill her? Return her to the village? Maybe even just throw her back into the wild.

"I... I'm sorry. I di... didn't mean to. I w... was just hu... hungry." Chika stuttered fearfully, with tears leaking from her bright, green eyes. The man and woman exchanged a look for a moment.

Either Pein or Konan knew how to deal with a frightened child. Let alone with a child that was crying. They knew, that to get the girl to corporate with them, they'd have to interrogate her differently from anyone else. While criminals, Pein was on a mission of world peace and harming children under the legal ninja age, which was around twelve to thirteen, wasn't on his list. Still, there was the factor of the child's odd power and why she had been so far form civilization at the time.

"Child, what is your name?" Konan asked in a drool tone as Pein said something into his finger ring. Chika, with tears still shinning in her eyes, looked over to the blue haired woman.

Should she tell this woman her name? What if _they _were looking for her and these people heard about her running away? That wasn't possible, was it? After all, Chika had made sure to get as far away from the village as she could. She had been living on her own, eating anything edible she could find, for about a week until the wolves found her. She had to be a few good days away from the village by now.

"Ch... Chika." She answered with a sniffle, refusing to say her last name. Not only did the girl fear being returned to the village but she despised her surname; it only reminded Chika that her parents weren't there to protect her.

"Chika, how old are you?" Konan asked calmly. Rubbing a few tears away from her eyes, the girl answered as she barely noticed someone walk in the room.

"I'm six."

"You called, un?"

Pulling her attention away the blue haired woman, Chika looked over to the room entrance to see a blond man enter. His hair was unusually long for a young man and a strip covered one of his eyes. His visible eye was blue and held curiosity. Unlike the two adults in front of her, the boy wore a purple-grey, V-neck shirt over top a fishnet. While the shirt stopped only half way, stopping above his stomach, the fishnet covered what the shirt showed. His pants were a similar color to his shirt. Lastly, the young man was carrying a bowl of fruit.

"So, how's the kid feeling, un?" The man asked, a friendly grin playing on his face, as his visible blue eye locked onto Chika. The child paid little attention to the blond man as her eyes locked onto the food instead.

"Besides suffering from some minor hunger pains and a few old bruises, the girl is fine. The cut on her cheek was easy to take care of but will leave a visible scar on her face for a while." Konan reported as Deidara placed the bowl of fruit in front of the girl. The blond man hummed thoughtfully before smiling in amusement as the child basically stuffed a banana down her throat.

"Easy their, squirt. You wouldn't want to get a bellyache, yeah." He chuckled teasingly. Finally seeming aware that she was still being watched, Chika blushed embarrassingly and stared up at the three adults.

The little red head was still frightened but now she was confused. Were these people good or were they bad? The ginger haired one sounded cold and a little mean. The woman also sounded cold but, in a way, kinder than the man. This new man looked nice enough and he had brought her food. There was also the factor that woman and ginger haired man wore cloaks like the men from the river. No to mention the ginger, who had not given his name, mentioned they were his men; whatever that meant. So would that mean the two men from the river were here?

Flashes of Keoko and Michiko filled her mind. Remembering how the wolves tried to protect her only to die brought tears to Chika's eyes. Deidara's grin suddenly dropped as Pein and Konan exchanged glances again. They had never had to deal with something like this before. They fought ninjas almost as strong as them and even fought a few jinchuuriki hosts. However, this was the Akatsuki's first time dealing with a child as such as this one. Odd powers or not, she was going to have to be dealt with differently than anyone else.

"Uh, this is awkward. Can I leave now, un?" Deidara asked, scratching the back of his head. The Akatsuki leader and Konan gave each other a secret look before glancing over between him and the crying Chika.

"Tobi and Zetsu still haven't returned from their mission. I would like everyone present for when we question this child. Deidara, I want you to show Chika around. She might be staying with us for quite a while." Pein ordered and motioned a hand towards the six year old red head. The blond nin narrowed his one visible, blue, eye towards the crying girl before sighing in defeat.

"Yes, Leader-Sama. Come on, squirt." Deidara said as he grabbed the child without warning and set her on her feet. Chika flinched but had little time to react before the man's hand grabbed one of hers and began to pull her away.

Rubbing the tears from her eyes, Chika glanced at her new surroundings as she was pulled out of the medic room. The red head child had been pulled into a hallway, with doors on either side of her. Like the room she had just left, the walls, and ceiling looked like they were made of stone. Even the floor was make of stone but had been smoothed. The doors, however, were made of wood and lights lit above her head. Where ever Chika was, it seemed to be made of stone but, at the same time, have electricity.

"So I hear you tried stealing from Kisame and Itachi. You're lucky they didn't kill you, un" Deidara broke the silence with a small smile on his face. A surprised look came on Chika's face do to the friendliness of the man's tone but it was soon replaced by a shameful look.

"The blue one tried to." Chika whispered under her breath. Thanks to his ninja sense of hearing, Deidara easily caught this and chuckled.

"That would have been Kisame. Kisame can actually be very friendly if he likes you. From what I know about him, he likes to find reasons to pick fights, yeah. It's likely he was just trying to scare you. Hidan is the only one I know that would actually kill a child without hesitation, hm. I know Kakuzu has a bad temper but I don't know him well enough to be sure, un." Deidara said thoughtfully, his cocky grin dropping into more of a thoughtful look. Upon hearing this, Chika paled and shook.

Sensing he was scaring the girl, Deidara's smile returned and he tightened his grip lightly. While purposely killing children was something he would not do, scaring and teasing was something completely different. The bomber had fond memories of his younger teen years, before the Akatsuki came to recruit him. He'd set off small bombs around the school and playground. They were never powerful enough to hurt anyone but they sure enough scared people. Ever since being forced to join the Akatsuki, Deidara had less time to scare people since most of the time he was killing instead.

"Anyways, do you have a name, squirt, hm?" Deidara asked while pointing out a bathroom that Chika could use if she had to. The red headed child looked up at the at the blond man with her green eyes shinning in curiosity.

"I'm Chika. Your name is Deidara, right?" she asked shyly. The former Iwa nin nodded with a grin.

"Mm hm. The one and only, un." Deidara said cockily. Chika tilted her head to the side slightly as they continued down the hall.

"Do you have a speech inpendimant?" Chika nervously asked in an innocent, shy tone. Deidara's expression turned to one of unamusement and he stared down at the girl with a serious look.

"You mean speech _impediment_, and it's not nice to point those kind of things out, squirt." Deidara grumbled as he tightened his grip on her hand for a second. Chika gave a gasp of surprise and, satisfied, Deidara slackened his grip and continued down the hall.

Not once did Deidara take Chika through any of the other doors in the hall. Most of the doors contained Akatsuki bedrooms, storage rooms and a bathroom. Besides the bathroom, the former Iwa ninja saw no reason to show off their bedrooms. Besides, it was quite likely that everyone was in their rooms at the time. Kakuzu would likely not want to be disturbed, the girl didn't need to be around Hidan's swearing and Sasori was in a cranky mood. As for Itachi and Kisame, the child was likely frightened of them and Deidara didn't want to deal with a frightened child that would likely start crying again.

"Why did you pinch me?" Chika whined as they neared the end of the hall. A confused look over took Deidara's face and he stopped in his tracks.

"Huh? I didn't pinch you, un." He denied the claim. Chika pouted and forced her hand away from his to show him her palm.

"Yes you did, see?" The girl complained, pointing to the mark on her hand. Realizing what had made the mark, Deidara blushed bashfully and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh, that isn't a pinch." He admitted before showing Chika the palm of his hand. "Sorry, hm. They sometimes have a mind of their own." he explained as the mouth on his hand opened and stuck out it's tongue. Chika gasped in surprised and grabbed Deidara's hand with her two smaller hands.

"Did _he_ do this to you? Did you escape too?" Chika asked, looking up at Deidara's one visible eye with hopeful looking eyes. The bomber looked at the little girl in complete confusion as he pulled his hand away from her grip.

"No one did this to me, yeah. I did it to myself. What do you mean by escape, un?" Deidara demanded, narrowing his eyes down at the child. The little red head instantly looked away and allowed her arms to sag.

Chika was starting to get scared again. Upon seeing the mouths on the man's hands, she thought he might have been a escaped experiment as well. After all, he didn't look all that old; he could have been one of _his _later experiments. Now knowing that the hand mouths weren't created through experiments, at least not by _him_, the child feared she said too much. She even mentioned escaping. This wasn't a good thing and Chika knew she was now in more trouble than she already was.

"It's nothing." She answered in a quiet answer. Deidara stared at her with his one visible eye for a moment before sighing and forcibly taking her hand again. Whatever this child was hiding, and whatever she meant by he and escape, he would find out sooner or later.


End file.
